can accomplish much and the news from the seat of war was so
eventful that they felt every moment to be precious and so they worked
with feverish haste. The tide of German success had turned and their
great army, from Paris to Vitry, was now in full retreat, fighting every
inch of the way and leaving thousands of dead and wounded in its wake.

"How long will it take us to reach Calais?" they asked Captain Carg
eagerly.

"Eight or nine days," said he.

"We are not as fast as the big passenger steamers," explained young
Jones, "but with good weather the _Arabella_ may be depended upon to
make the trip in good shape and fair time."

On the nineteenth of September, fully equipped and with her papers in
order, the beautiful yacht left her anchorage and began her voyage. The
weather proved exceptionally favorable. During the voyage the girls
busied themselves preparing their modest uniforms and pumping Dr. Gys
for all sorts of information, from scratches to amputations. He gave
them much practical and therefore valuable advice to guide them in
whatever emergencies might arise, and this was conveyed in the
whimsical, half humorous manner that seemed characteristic of him. At
first Gys had shrunk involuntarily from facing this bevy of young girls,
but they had so frankly ignored his physical blemishes and exhibited so
true a comradeship to all concerned in the expedition, that the doctor
soon felt perfectly at ease in their society.

During the evenings he gave them practical demonstrations of the
application of tourniquets, bandages and the like, while Uncle John and
Ajo by turns posed as wounded soldiers. Gys was extraordinarily deft in
all his manipulations and although Maud Stanton was a graduate
nurse--with little experience, however--and Beth De Graf had studied the
art for a year or more, it was Patsy Doyle who showed the most dexterity
in assisting the doctor on these occasions.

"I don't know whether I'll faint at the sight of real blood," she said,
"but I shall know pretty well what to do if I can keep my nerve."

The application of anaesthetics was another thing fully explained by
Gys, but this could not be demonstrated. Patsy, however, was taught the
use of the hypodermic needle, which Maud and Beth quite understood.

"We've a big stock of morphia, in its various forms," said the doctor,
"and I expect it to prove of tremendous value in comforting our
patients."

"I'm not sure I approve the use of that dru